This month marked Artsnacks four year anniversary and they tried to help celebrate with this months box. I felt that the box fell a little flat for me. It contained products that I enjoy using but it didn’t contain any WOW products for me. Long story short, I didn’t love this month’s box but I didn’t hate it either. Although I thought that all of the products were good quality art supplies. Check out the unboxing video HERE!

Since 2016 has come to a close and 2017 is upon us, I thought that I’d look back at some of my favorite things that I purchased and/or used in 2016. So here they are and in no particular order:

PICK #1: ARTSNACKS

I have to say that since subscribing to Artsnacks in July of 2016, I can only think of one month that wasn’t stellar in my mind, but by no means does that mean that I hated all of the supplies from that month. Artsnacks really hasn’t let me down since I began the subscription and my subscription will continue in 2017. If you haven’t heard of Artsnacks, it is a monthly subscription and when you subscribe for $24 a month, you will receive a box of 4-5 high quality art supplies in the mail the beginning of every month. This is a great way to try new products without having to buy the whole set. It is also a great way to discover new or new to you products. Artsnacks now has a shop where you can even purchase past month’s boxes or individual items. You can find out more about Artsnacks HERE. You can also check out my previous monthly posts where I unbox my Artsnacks box for the month.

PICK #2: DANIEL SMITH WATERCOLORS

In 2016 I discovered Daniel Smith watercolors and wow are they ever beautiful! These extra fine watercolors have amazing, vibrant colors. Some even leave a gritty looking texture behind from the color that is absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately these beauties come with a hefty price tag but they are so worth it! You can buy them by the tubes or you can find individuals who sell each color by the pan or half pan. The ones pictured above are half pans in a watercolor tin. Some of the half pans I filled myself with tubes that I had purchased. Others were purchased from an Etsy shop called KATT’S KORNER.. This is a great way to try colors by purchasing them at a lower costs before buying a whole tube at a much greater expense. I also purchased my tin and empty half pans from the shop.

PICK #3: MIDORI TRAVELER’S NOTEBOOK

I purchased a Midori Traveler’s Notebook in October of 2016 and I love it. The size is different than what I’m used to but it’s a great change. The dark brown leather marks up beautifully. This is the journal that I am currently doing my daily (almost daily) journaling in. You can purchase this journal HERE.

PICK #4: PATREON- COURTNEY DIAZ

In November of 2016, I registered with a website called Patreon. This is where artists can connect with fans and gain an income. I am not a creator on this site but I became a patron to artist Courtney Diaz (AKA: Little Raven Ink). She creates inspirational videos and posts about journaling and mixed media. Courtney also creates beautiful and quirky collage sheets every month, like the ones pictured above, that are available to Patrons at a certain level. There are several levels based on the amount of money you contribute. The more you contribute, the more videos and other material you receive. She has been a huge inspiration in my daily journaling and continues to inspire me every week.

This mechanical pencil was a limited edition Artsnacks product in the September 2016 box that you can purchase HERE. Artsnacks collaborated with Alvin to create this pencil in the Artsnacks teal color, which is my favorite color to begin with! It is a 0.5mm pencil that you can use with several different types of lead. You just twist the top of the pencil to switch the lead type. It has a stainless steel comfort grip and a small eraser under the metal pencil cap. I absolutely love this pencil!

So there you have it. Just a few of my 2016 favorites. As always, let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to share some of your favorites of 2016. Thanks for stopping by 🙂

I created an art journal page of a mother and daughter while playing around in my art journal. I sped up the video so that you could get a quick look at my process. I hope you enjoy!

You can watch it on YouTube HERE.

This is also my last blog post until my show coming up on 10/1/16 at the Colonel Crawford Fall Festival. You can visit me as well as many other makers, enjoy homemade cornbread and bean soup, and shop for a pumpkin while you are there. It is a good time. You can find out more about the event HERE.

Before I attended the Artiscape Artists Retreat last month, I made several mini gelli printed journals to trade with other artists at the retreat and thought that I would share the process with you.

First, create the pages of your journal by making lots of prints on your gelatin plate. Be sure to make prints on both sides of the paper or if you print on one side, you can glue two pieces with wrong sides together. I used just regular office copy paper.

Choose your cover papers (I used 98lb. Mixed Media Paper) and cut to the size of your journal. Also cut your printed papers but cut them slightly smaller than your journal cover. Also choose a one sided gelatin print or patterned paper for the inside covers of your journal and cut the same size as the journal cover.

Decorate your outside covers. I chose to use watercolors and stamps to decorate my covers. I then embellished them further and added stitching with my sewing machine.

Next, I folded the covers, printed pages and inside covers in half and used a bone folder to crease them really well. Then I laid the papers down in this order: Cover (face down), Inside cover paper (face up), then the printed pages one on top of the other.

Once I had them placed together so that that inside papers were not hanging over the edges of the cover and inside cover pages, I placed them on the sewing machine and stitched all of the papers together down the middle. Glue down the inside cover papers to the inside of the covers and there you have it. Easy gelli printed journals.

I hope you give this fun project a try. Do you have any fun projects that you love to do with your gelatin prints? I would love to hear about it!

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed bringing in the New Year and you are looking forward to 2016. I know I am. Lots of exciting things planned for the new year.

To kick off 2016, I filmed a quick video to show a fun and easy watercolor resist technique. I created an Artist Trading Card (ATC) in the video; however, you could use this technique in your art journal, on a canvas, the sky is the limit. This would also be a great warmup exercise to get those creative juices flowing.

A few tips that I forgot to mention in the video, make sure that your watercolor surrounds your letters so they are legible, and sometimes it’s easier if you use analogous colors. Analogous colors are three colors that are next to each other on the color wheel, such as red, red-violet and violet. Using analogous colors helps prevent making mud, or colors that aren’t as interesting. But have fun experimenting and seeing what colors you like to use together.

I hope you enjoy the video and I would love to hear about your experience if you give it a try! Thanks for stopping by the blog and be sure to visit next week when I tell you all about my Product Pick for January 2016.

I recently purchased some Peerless Transparent Watercolors when I went to Adventures in Stamping last month. I purchased the book of 15, which cost me $14.25, as well as the bonus pack, which contains an additional 40 colors and cost $19.00. The color is on paper film that you can lift off with a wet brush.

My goal was to create a book or folder that I could put all of the colors on to take with me on my trip to Florida earlier this month. After watching several You Tube videos and combining several ideas, I came up with this book, which is, I believe, made out of 400 lb. watercolor paper. I just cut the colors into small swatches, adhered them with dry adhesive, painted a sample below the swatch and then wrote the name of the color. I have also placed a piece of acetate in between the pages to keep the wet colors from mixing. It also works as a color mixing palette.

I used my watercolors on the airplane, at the dinner table, and any other time that I could take the chance to use them.

I’ve noticed that the colors are so vibrant and blend so well. So far, I’m very happy with them and can’t wait to play with them again!

Have you ever used Peerless Watercolors and if so, what do you think of them?